Unearthing The Metal Underground: The Metal Scene In Greece

A couple of months ago, I wrote a column examining three metal bands from Turkey, the country which bridges Europe and Asia, and a conversation was struck wherein I mentioned the idea of checking out some of the underground metal music that Turkey’s neighbours, Greece have to offer. Greece is certainly one of the most fascinating countries in Europe, if not the world, owing to its ancient history, philosophers, contributions to science, maths and politics and mythology, and it’s a place that enjoys heavy metal music too. Some of the more significant Greek metal bands around today include Rotting Christ, Firewind and SepticFlesh, but this week we will uncover three bands which aren’t as well known.

Suicidal Angels

Of all the bands featured this week, Suicidal Angels are probably the most well known, having worked extremely hard over the past few years to spread their brand of thrash metal. The group was formed in the Greek capital city of Athens in 2001 by singing guitarist, Nick Melissourgos and eventually recorded their first full length album, "Eternal Domination" in 2007, which was released in July of that year. The record did well enough to gain them a place supporting such thrash legends as Overkill, Kreator and Onslaught. The release of their second album, "Sanctify the Darkness" further solidified their place as one of the best young thrash metal acts around, and led them to more appearances with high profile artists, as well as slots at such festivals as Sonisphere and Wacken Open Air. The band has since released two more full length records, the most recent of which, "Bloodbath," hit the shelves last year.

Suicidal Angels - "Apokathilosis"

Suicidal Angels - "Beggar Of Scorn"

Birth Through Gore

Hailing from the Central Macedonian city of Thessaloniki, Birth Through Gore represent a much heavier and more extreme side to the Greek metal scene. The group was formed in 2007 and featured members of the bands Evade and Erectus. Over the next few years, the band built up their catalogue and following, and were first introduced to listening audiences in 2011 when their song, "Crepuscular Shadows," was featured on the compilation album, "Greek Death/Grind Scene vol.1." Shortly afterwards, Birth Through Gore signed to Severed Records and in 2012, finally released their debut full length album, "Reign Of Depravity," which was well received by metal fans, particularly the track, "In The Brim Of Decimation."

Birth Through Gore - "In The Brim Of Decimation"

Birth Through Gore - "Drop Unregretted Into Oblivion"

Psycho Choke

Finally, we come to Psycho Choke, another band hailing from Thessaloniki. They are perhaps something of a meeting point between the previous two bands, having dabbled in the thrash, groove and most recently, metalcore genres, although they are also considerably more melodic than both Suicidal Angels and Birth Through Gore. Psycho Choke began life in 1999 and self-released their debut album, "Choke On This" three years later. They followed their debut with an eleven track demo, "One Mind Less" in 2006, which caught the attention of several metal publications, including the Greek edition of Metal Hammer magazine, who awarded the band the "Demo of the Month" award in February of that year. After releasing a four track EP entitled, "The Last Moments of Absence," the group garnered a record deal with the label 7hard Records, who released the second, and most recent, Psycho Choke album, "Unraveling Chaos" in the Summer of 2010. The quintet are currently recording their third full length album, which is expected to be released later this year.

Psycho Choke - "Get Myself Alone"

Psycho Choke - "Get Down"

What did you think of this week's bands? Please feel free to comment about your favorite bands in this article in the comments below, and check back in next Monday as we continue to unearth more underground metal bands.

Ollie Hynes has been a writer for Metal Underground.com for four years and has been a metal fan for ten years, going so far as to travel abroad for metal shows.

I knew of Suicidal Angels and forgot how much I liked them! Never heard of the other 2! It's good to see metal bands that aren't strictly thrash emerging from Greece. Whilst metal is very popular in Greece and Cyprus, it's generally only true/classic, thrash or power metal that prevails.